Mechanism for feeding sheets of material to printing and other machines



June24,1924. Y 1,499,210'

C. GAVED MECHANISM-'FOR' FEEDING SHEETS OF MATERIAL '1"0 PRINTING AND OTHER MACHINES Filed May 2, 1922 ww N un 1 74 Q E lll l I HHH riff M I l' l 1'? il Il l I Patented .inne 24, 1924.

CLEMENT GAvEn, or ANEELEY, LONDON, ENGLAND, AssIeNoE, EYy MEsNE assiali,-y

1,4 PATENT ycritics.

MENTS, T H. T. B. LIMITED, 0F WALTl-IMSTO'W, LONDON, ENGLAND.

MEcHANrsM non EEEDING sHEE'rs or MATERIAL `To PRINTING AND'OTHEE Y MAcHINEs-` y y I Application sied May 2,

To all whom t may concern: n

l Be it known that I, CLEMENT G-Av'nn, a subject of the King of England, residing in Anerley, London, England, have invented certain new and useful Improvements yin Mechanism for Feeding Sheets of Material to Printing and Other Machines, of which the following is a specification.

This invention consists in improvements in' or relating to mechanism for feeding sheets of material into printingor other ma chines and refers particularly to improvements in those devices, sometimes known, and hereinafter referred to as strokeis; The type of Stroker-device to which the present invention relates is that in which an 'arm, secured at one end to a rotatable shaft, carries at its free end a pad which, as the shaft is rotated, is brought into contact with the top sheet of a pile of sheets and is pressed thereon so that'rotational movement of the stroker-arin draws the top sheet forwardly to, for example, the lay-board of a printing machine. Hitherto the strokerarms have been themselves resilient, for example, they have bcen formed of spring steel or the like and have extended in a radial direction from the rotatable shaft aforesaid. It is found that these arms, after a time, become deformed and their resilience' impaired, which necessitates frequent renewal of them. This is objectionable and 1t is the obiect of the present invention to provide a stroker in which such objection will not exist.

According to the present invention a stroke'r comprises the combination with a crank-arm or equivalent device securedgto a rotatable shaft, generally rotatable about a 40 fixed axis, of a substantially rigid Strokerarm` pivotally .n carried in the said crankaiin with the axis of pivoting parallel to, but spaced from, the axis of said shaft and resilient means to control the movement of the Stroker-arm about its axis of pivoting. The purpose of the resilient conlrolis to tend to resistmovement of the arm about its axis of pivoting as the pad is brought into contactfwith, and pressed on to, the a0 top of the pile of paper-sheets and to return the said arm, after it is disengaged from the pile of sheets, to it'sfinitial position from which it had been displaced by engagement of the pad with the pile.

1922. Serial No. 557,992.

Preferably there is a resilient buffer inter`` posed between the Stroker-arm and a rigid.

stop which is fixed in its relation to the shaft aforesaid,`the buffer serving asa shockabsorber as `the strokei' is returned, under the action ofits resilient'controlling-means, against the fixed stop.`

` Conveniently the stop is adjustable iii such a manner as to regulate at will the normal position of the Stroker-arm before it is moved about its pivot by engagement withr the pile of sheets.

@ne preferred embodiment of the invention will now be described in detail by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings in which- Figure 1 is a side elevation of the stroking device, and i Figure 2 is an end elevation of the device. Y

Like reference numerals denote similar parts in both figures of the'drawings. l

On the customary stroker-sliaft 5 or its equivalent is `secured a short radial crank Y oi arm 6 hereinafter referred to as the crank-arm. The crank-arm is formed integral with a detachable two-part lboss 7 which can'be bolted to the shaft byy means of extensions 8 which project radially from the lshaft at right-angles to the crank-arm.

A substantially rigid metal Stroker-arm 9 of` T-section, is pivotally mounted at 22, intermediate of its length, in the ,outer extremity of the crank-arm. At one end the Stroker-arm has secured to it by bolts 10 and washers 11, a pad 12 of leather, rubber or other 4comparatively soft material.y At its opposite end the Stroker-arm is connected to oneextremity kof aA tension-spring 13, the otherfextremity of which spring is connected with a hooked rod 14 movable endwis'e in a guide 'l5 formed on a prolongation of the ylower of the extended portions '8 by whichr the boss 7 is bolted to the Stroker-shaft. The hooked rod is screw-threaded and is vengaged with an adjusting-nut 16 which abuts an end face of the guide 15, there being a small wedge-shaped projection 17 on then'ut which will fit into corresponding recesses in the guide to hold the nut in any position of adjustment to which it has been moved in adjusting the tension of the spring.

Extending outwardly from the boss 7, at a position between the arm 6 and the spring 1S, is a screw-bolt 18 serving as an adjustable stop for the stroker-arm, the position of the stop being adjustable by screwing it more orless into a screw-threaded recess 19 formed for its reception in the boss. A lockniit 2O is provided to maintain the stop in any position of adjustment and on the end of the-stroker-arm remote from the pad, is a rubber sleeve 21, which acts as a buffer or shock-absorber to engage with the head of the stop. Y

It will be understood, therefore, that as the Stoker-shaft is rotated in the direction of the ai'row in Figure l, the stroker-pad l2 becomes first engaged with the top sheet of a pile Vof sheets (not shown) and is thereafter rocked about jitspivot 22 by the continued rotation of the shaft 5, tensioning its control-spring 13 in so doing.

It will be understood that the pile of sheets would be located` below'and somewhat to the right ofthe position of the stroker pad as shown in Figure l of the drawings, and that the top sheet .wouldV be carried forward by the stroker-arm on to a support such as the lay-board of a printing machine. VAs the stroker-arm moves towards a horizontal position on the right of the stroker shaft, the pad leaves the pile of sheets and the controlspring re-asserts itself and returns the stroker-arm to its initial Vor normal positionV until the buffer 21 .is engaged with the head of the fixed stop 18 thus absorbing` any shock of the blow vof the stroker-arm on the stop. The latter limits the return of the strokerarm and also serves to adjust the initial or normal position thereof.

qWith the construction hereinabove described, a substantially rigid and strong stroker-arin is provided having the advantageous features of the resilient stroker-arm hereinbefore employed but devoid. of the disadvantages referred to'above which accrued from the use of a stroker-arm formed of spring strip.

Y l.Vhat I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent is 1- Y l. A stroker of the type described comprising in combination a boss adapted to be secured on a shaft which is rotatable in one direction about a fixed axis, a radial crank secured to said boss, a rigid stroker arm pivotally mounted intermediate its ends ony the outer end of said crank, a radial projection from said boss substantially at right angles to the crank aforesaid, a spring in tension between said radial projection and the end of the stroker arm adjacent thereto, a rigid stop located in the path of that end of the stroker arm to which the spring is attached, and a resilient buffer interposed between the stroker arm and the rigid stop aforesaid, substantially as described.

Y, A stroker of the type described com- ,Y prisiiig in combination a boss adapted to beV secured on a shaft which is rotatable in one direction about a fixed axis, a radial crank secured to said boss, ay rigid stroker arm pivotally mounted intermediate its ends on the outer end of said crank, a radial projection from said boss substantially at right angles to the crank aforesaid, a" spring in tension between saidradial projection and the end of the stroker arm adj acent'thereto, a rigid stop located in the path of that end of the stroker arm to which the spring is attached, and means whereby said rigid stop is adjustable in such a manner as to regulate the normal position of the stroker arm when it is at rest againstk said stop and before it is moved about its pivot by engagement with a pile of sheets, substantially as described.

3. A' stroker of the type described comprising in combination a boss adapted to be secured on a shaft which is rotatable in one direction about a fixed axis, a radial crank secured to said boss, a rigid stroker arm pivotally mounted intermediate its ends onthe outerend of said crank, a radial projection from said boss substantially at right angles to the crank aforesaid, a spring in tension between said radial projection and the'end Vjiistable in such a manner as to regulate the normal position of the stroker arm when it is at rest against said stop and before it is moved about its pivot by engagement with a pile of sheets, substantially' as described.

4l. A stroker of the type described comprising in combination a shaft adapted for continuous rotation in one direction only, a boss having means to secure it to said shaft, a radial crank integral with said boss, a rigid stroker arm pivotally mounted intermediate its ends on the outer end of said crank, a radial projection extending from said boss substantially at right angles to the crank aforesaid, a spring-tension-adjusting device slidably mounted in said radial projection so as to move endwise towards and awayl from the stroker arm, means to adjust the position of said spring-tension-Yadjusting device., a spring in Ytension between comprising in combination a rotatable shaft, a crank-arm secured thereto by means of a two-part boss, a substantially rigid Strokerarm pivoted to the, outer end of said crankarm at a position intermediate in the length of the Stroker-arm with the axis of pivoting parallel to ythe axis of the shaft, a pad at one end of the Stroker-arm, a tensioningspring one end of which is secured to the other end of the Stroker-arm, a projection two-part boss, a substantially rigid Strokerarm pivoted to the outer end of said crankarm at a position intermediate in the length of the Stroker-arm with the axis of pivoting parallel to zthe axis of the shaft, a pad at one end of the rStroker-arm, a tensioningspring one end of which is secured to the other end of the Stroker-arm, a projection from the boss aforesaid extending parallel to and in the saine direction as that end of the Stroker-arm to which the spring is secured, a rod sliding through the said projection towards and away from the Strokerarm, a screw-threaded engagement between said rod and an adjusting-nut engaging said projection, with means to secure to the rod the other end of the tensioning-spring aforesaid, and an adjustable stop engaged between -the said boss and the Stroker-arm intermediate in that end of the latter between its pivot and its connection with the tensionlng-spring.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

CLEMENT GAVED. 

